FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Krameria grayi | White Ratany 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
White ratany is partially or completely top-killed by fire [16,24].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
White ratany's well-developed root system allows the plant to exploit
the decreased albedo, and increased water and nutrient availability
after a fire to recover density quite rapidly.  However, cover values
remain lower in the open shrub microhabitat than in the more mesic tree
microhabitat.  Revovery is moisture dependent.  With high soil moisture
or in a more mesic microhabitat, postfire cover can be greater than
prefire cover [16].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
Loftin [16] found that white ratany resprouted rapidly after a fire in
an Arizona Uplands desert scrub site in the Sonoran Desert and returned
to prefire levels within 35 months.  He reported the following preburn
and postburn density levels and cover values in an open shrub and a tree
microhabitat [16]:

                    Density (number of plants per hectare)                
Micro-                           Time (months postburn)
habitat        Preburn   Postburn      5     11   12     29   35

Open shrub     138        63           52    63   104    108  139
Tree           141       109           16    63   125    125  167  

                      Cover (square meters per hectare)        
Micro-                           Time (months postburn)
habitat        Preburn   Postburn      5     11    12    29   35 

Open shrub     100       75            44    60    29    63    56
Tree            39       21             6    31    63    60   107


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
When prescribing a fire treatment, soil moisture must be considered as one
of the crucial aspects of white ratany's recovery [10,16,24].

Related categories for Species: Krameria grayi | White Ratany